DCM Shriram to set up separate company for rural retail
New Delhi: DCM Shriram Consolidated (DSCL), which began rural retailing in 2004 through the Hariyali Kisan Bazar (HKB) shops, is planning to hive off the retailing division into a separate company and enter the capital market to generate funds for further expansion.

Vikram S. Shriram, DSCL vice-chairman & managing director, said after the hiving off, the new retail company would be entering the capital market. The Haryali Kisan Bazar chain has 30 stores in five States and plans to raise the figure to 35-40 by Diwali this year. Each store involves an investment of around Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore. The average annual sales per shop last year were in the range of Rs 4-6 crore. If the sales of the adjacent petrol pumps are included, the total sales per store stands at Rs 10-15 crore.

The stores currently offer goods under two broad categories - agricultural inputs and FMCG. The company plans to introduce household goods, construction goods, children's goods, apparels, footwear within the next four months.
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Havell's to introduce new products
Kochi: Electrical and power distribution equipment manufacturer Havell's India, plans to introduce new products such as power capacitors, electric motors and water heaters in the market. Havell's is the largest producer of MCBs in the country and 52 per cent of MCBs sold in the UK are manufactured by Havell's.

The company has set a sales target of Rs2,000 crore in India in the current financial year. The company had a sales turnover of Rs1,100 crore in the last financial year as against Rs600 crore in the previous fiscal. It also registered a profit after tax of Rs63 crore in the last fiscal and the group is poised for a quantum jump of over 50 per cent in the current year, he said. With 13 manufacturing plants, he said, the group has achieved rapid success in the past few years.
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India is innovations hub for Accenture
Hyderabad: India has emerged as a hub for some global consulting firm Accenture's latest innovations which include new quality processes, where Indian leaders would guide global deployments. The company is also grooming leaders from India for global operations. For instance, the Indian HR head would now be part of the human capital management team for global operations. Accenture has added 16,500 people in 36 months from barely 1,000 prior to that.

The IT services major expects to increase this number by approximately 9,000 this year. Accenture now has 42 delivery centres across the globe, which includes two of its recent additions, one at Pune and the other at Warsaw, a BPO centre. The company headcount in India is close to 13.5 per cent of its global workforce.

The growing importance of India and the region for Accenture can be gauged from the fact that in India Accenture works for seven of the top 10 business groups, and six of the top 10 companies based on sales. Accenture helps enterprises in their business transformation.
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DS Constructions completes expressway
New Delhi: DS Constructions (DSC) has completed the 27 km long Raipur-Durg expressway project, part of NH-6 in Chattisgarh at a cost of Rs95 crore, awarded by the National Highways Authority of India on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis.
The project involved extending the existing 2-lane carriageway to include 4 lanes.

It is estimated that the expressway would reduce the travel time between Raipur and Durg by 30 minutes. The company has also been awarded the Raipur-Aurang road project worth Rs190 crore.
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SCI in Rs14, 000cr vessel buy plan
Kolkata: Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has drawn up a mega vessel acquisition plan till 2011-12 involving an investment of around Rs14,000 crore. The aquisition plan includes buying all kinds of vessels like oil tankers, container carriers and offshore vessels said company officials.

At present, SCI has 82 vessels but during the 11th Plan many vessels would be phased out having crosssed seaworthiness. The number of vessels expected to phased out was not yet certain said company officials. However, despite this the overall cargo handling capacity would go up by 8 million dead weight tonnage (dwt) from the present 15 dwt they said.

The acquisition of the vessels would be financed by cash reserves of Rs2,200 crore while 70-75 per cent of the cost would be mobilised as debt. The JV firm company comrpising SCI, Forbes Gokak & Sterling Investment Corp will initially place a $100 million order for 4 chemical tankers.
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Reliance deal for Haryana SEZ may be signed today
New Delhi: Reliance Industries (RIL) will sign a deal with Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) on June 19 to set up a Rs25,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that would boast of a dedicated airport and a 2,000 MW power plant. Apart from the Rs25,000 crore Reliance would pump into the SEZ, Reliance would seek additional investment from third parties totalling Rs1,00,000 crore.

There have been rumours about Congress party MP Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi's opposition to the project and inauguration date of the SEZ has been postponed twice already. However, congress leaders said there was no political motive behind this delay.

Under the agreement, RIL and HSIDC would create a special purpose vehicle, which would acquire 25,000 acres of land for the multi-product SEZ. Initially, Haryana will trasnfer 1,715 acres to the SPV for the project, which would be spread between Garhi Harsaru and Jhajjar.

The project is expected to generate five lakh jobs and bring in revenue of Rs10,000 crore annually.
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Bajaj looks to set up manufacturing unit in Brazil
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto is looking to set up another manufacturing unit overseas and has chosen Brazil for as the location. The company's only other unit abroad is in Indonesia and will be operational by the end of this year.

Sanjiv Bajaj, executive director, Bajaj Auto, confirmed the company's plans to set up a manufacturing unit in Brazil. However, this venture may not get moving immediately as the company first wants to strengthen its presence in Indonesia and the neighbouring markets.

The company has also not yet decided whether it would go it alone or with a local partner. Industry sources said the company would need to invest at least Rs300 crore initially to set up a manufacturing base in Brazil.

At present, Bajaj Auto has a marginal presence in Brazil, which has a market for one million two-wheelers.

The company, however, exported more than 70,000 two and three-wheelers to other South American markets including Colombia, Guatemala and Peru last year.
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Godrej Agrovet eyes Punjab, Haryana
New Delhi: Godrej Agrovet plans to set up 100 to 120 agri services-cum-retail stores under the brand name "Godrej Aadhaar" in the country in 2006-0725. Of these15 to 20 stores will come up in Punjab and Haryana. At present, the company has eight stores in Punjab and two in Haryana.

At present, the company has 24 Aadhaar centres in Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

These stores will offer agricultural solutions and products to farmers and also provide a wide range of commodities including food and grocery items, apparel, footwear, home appliances, furniture and kitchenware. The outlets will also house banks, insurance offices, pharmacies, post offices and petrol pumps.

The company plans to set up over 1,000 Aadhaar outlets in the next five years in the country and is expecting a turnover of Rs 3,500-4,000 crore from these stores, over the same period.

Godrej Agrovet had a turnover of Rs900 crore in 2005-06. It is one of the key players in the agricultural sector with a conspicuous presence in cattle, poultry, aqua feed, etc.
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Nirmal group to get process patents
Mumbai: Jalgaon-based agro research company Nirmal Organo Bio-tech Pvt. Ltd., a part of the Nirmal Group, has recently received a "production process" patent for its two bio-products; Nirmal Bio-force, a plant growth vitaliser for foliar spray and Nirmal Bio-power, a bio-soil enricher for soil application.
The company claims to be the first to receive process patent.

The two process-patented products will help to increase productivity by 20-to-30 per cent and improve quality of agricultural produce as well as plant and crop growth, flowering and fruiting among others, a Nirmal Group release claimed here recently.

The use of these bio-products will also help to produce organic vegetables and fruits suitable for exports. The process patents will also benefit the owners of gardens and landscapes in urban India.
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Reliance to invest Rs4000 cr in agri-retail in WB
Kolkata: Reliance Industries controlled by Mukesh Ambani is expected to invest Rs 4000 crore in West Bengal as part of its mega-retail plans to be unveiled later this week.

The company has sought nearly 10,000 acres from the state government with estimated investment in the first phase touching Rs 4000 crores, sources close to the development said.

Ambani's agricultural retail plans envisages creating farm-to-the-shelf chains by setting up exclusive farms and opening a chain of hypermarkets and super-markets across the country on the lines of Walmart.

It is learnt that the Chief Minister has given his go ahead to the entire plan and now only a formal announcement is awaited.

It was learnt that Reliance has sought land in almost every district of the state where exclusive agricultural farms would be set up for different farming products. The company may also procure produce from local farmers and for which procurement depots would be set up in villages.

There are plans to set up rural business hubs on the lines of 'mandis' and bring in infrastructure services and technological support for it in rural areas of Bengal.

The company also intended to set up massive hyper markets in major urban centres of the state where apart from the perishable agricultural products and grocery other items like garments and FMCG items would also be sold.

This way Reliance has plans to create a farm-to-the-shelf chain across the state which would later be extended to other parts of the country.

Since the company would also procure agricultural produce from local farmers through contract farming, the state government has started working on a model to allow it so that it benefitted local farmers.
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Govt rejects Pfizer`s price bait
Mumbai: Global drug giant Pfizer's proposal for supplying drugs to the government at cost prices if the industry is freed of price control has been rejected by the government.

Pfizer's chairman Henry A Mckinnell made the proposal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the ministry of chemicals and Fertilisers earlier this month.

Early this year, Pfizer came out with similar proposals in the US and South Africa, offering certain drugs at concessional rates and even for free.

Pfizer India managing director Kewal Handa, said the company was prepared to make its drugs available to the masses at even lower than cost prices if "the availability and affordability" of medicines were an issue in health care in India.

"The real issue in the Indian context is 'accessibility' and not 'affordability' of medicines. In the absence of proper health infrastructure, price control alone will not help in improving health care. It is the government's responsibility to create adequate infrastructure to resolve the problem and price control is not the answer to this," Handa said.
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